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MEGA ♪: A New Paradigm in Risk Assessment Tools for Sexually Abusive Youth

Journal of Family Violence volume 28, pages 623–634 (2013)Cite this article

Abstract

Prognostic utility of MEGA ♪ was evaluated on a sample of 969 male and female youth without history of sexually-related probation or parole violation. Six month follow-up of 334 (34 %) found a new sexually-related probation or parole violation occurred in 28 (8.4 %). ROC findings showed Risk Scale significantly (p < .001) predictive of a new violation (AUC = .71 [95 % CI = .62 to .80]). MEGA ♪ Risk Scale scores added incremental prognostic utility over demographic variables (p < 0.001) and resulted in a net reclassification improvement of 31.5 %. Contravention for youth ages 4 to 12 was defined as new reports of sexually abusive behaviors in three or more different locations, or sexual behaviors that included oral, anal, vaginal, direct skin to skin contact, and/or penetration. Post-hoc analysis found 8 youth (21 %) experienced these outcomes. Risk Scale was significantly predictive (AUC = .77 [95 % C.I. = .60 to .96; p = 0.016]).

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Fig. 1

Notes

  1. Coarse sexual improprieties are behaviors that reflect an unsophisticated awareness of psychosexual conditions, environments, or social situations. Youth with coarse sexual improprieties engage in sexual behaviors that are crude, indecent, and outside the societal norms of propriety (e.g., crude sexual gestures, sexually suggestive and/or vulgar sexual comments, mooning, looking up skirts, a young child rubbing his or her genitals in public or trying to grab another’s genitals, a child looking over a stall in a public restroom) (Miccio-Fonseca, 2010).

  2. Sexually abusive behaviors and improprieties of these youth fall along a coercion continuum of low, moderate, high, or very high (lethal) risk; this applies to sexually abusive youths who are either adjudicated or non-adjudicated.

  3. ERASOR, 2.0’s author, James Worling, began to refer to the tool in his writings as ERASOR. The tool is commonly referred to by independent researchers in this way, so the name ERASOR is used in this article.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Clinic for the Sexualities, 591 Camino De La Reina, Suite 705, San Diego, CA, 92108, USA

    L. C. Miccio-Fonseca

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  1. L. C. Miccio-Fonseca
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Correspondence to L. C. Miccio-Fonseca.

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Miccio-Fonseca, L.C. MEGA ♪: A New Paradigm in Risk Assessment Tools for Sexually Abusive Youth. J Fam Viol 28, 623–634 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10896-013-9527-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10896-013-9527-8

Keywords

  • Risk assessment
  • Recidivism
  • Juvenile sex offenders
  • Adolescent sex offenders
  • Female sex offenders